1. Priority Claim
This application claims the benefit of priority from European Patent Application EP 11 172 910.9 filed on Jul. 6, 2011 and European Patent Application 11 175 431.3 filed on Jul. 26, 2011, both of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
2. Technical Field
The present invention relates to navigation systems and more specifically to systems for displaying a three dimensional landmark on a navigation system.
3. Related Art
Navigation systems provide driving recommendations to a user-defined destination. The navigation system, after having calculated the route to the desired destination, may display a two-dimensional bird's eye view map, the map indicating the road network in which the recommended route is somehow highlighted to the driver. This highlighting may be shown by displaying a line with a certain color in the road network.
Instead of displaying a two-dimensional map view, it is also possible that the navigation system displays 3-dimensional route guidance information which gives the driver a better impression of the vehicle surroundings. The database containing the map data can additionally contain 3-dimensional landmarks providing a 3-dimensional representation of a 3-dimensional real world object. An example for such a landmark is a 3-dimensional representation in the map data of famous monuments, such as the Golden Gate Bridge or the Tower Bridge. Another example could be a famous city gate.
These 3-dimensional landmarks are sometimes part of the road surface used by a vehicle for driving on or by a pedestrian for walking on. The data set providing the 3-dimensional landmark, however, does not contain information which part of the landmark is used for driving. As a consequence, it is not possible to include the 3-dimensional landmark into the display of 3-dimensional route guidance information when the landmark is part of the driving route.
Other systems, methods, features and advantages will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims.